1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a door device for furniture, and more particularly to a door device for furniture, which consists of at least a pair of door members provided laterally in opposition to each other in a front opening of a furniture body, and which is designed so that one of the door members is pulled out forward and then slid sideways to be superposed over the front surface of the other door member, whereby the front opening of the furniture body is opened.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
A door device for furniture, which is adapted to be slid forward and then sideways to open the front side of a furniture body as mentioned above, has recently been used. In a conventional door device of this kind for furniture, longitudinally-extending movable rails, with which a door member is engaged, are supported on longitudinally-extending fixed rails set in, for example, a furniture body, in such a manner that the former rails can be slid longitudinally, whereby a mechanism for use in sliding the door member in the longitudinal direction is formed. This door device is further provided with rollers having grooves in their circumferential surfaces and arranged at the lower end of the front side of the door member, and a guide rail which has a projection with which the grooves in the rollers are engaged slidably when the door member is pulled out forward, and which is provided at the front side of the lower portion of the furniture body so that the guide rail extends laterally, providing a lateral slide mechanism for both supporting the door member and preventing the door member from being moved loosely in the longitudinal direction.
In this conventional construction, when the door member is pulled out forward, the grooves in the rollers on the door member are engaged with the projection on the guide rail, and the door member is slid laterally along the projection. Therefore, it is necessary that the guide rail be formed with a high dimensional accuracy, and that the door member has an accurate quantity of longitudinal sliding movement. Accordingly, in the steps of manufacturing this door device, the production and assembling of the parts thereof must be carried out with a high accuracy. This makes it difficult to assemble the door device. Moreover, there is the possibility that the grooves in the rollers and the projection on the guide rail are not engaged reliably to spoil a smooth movement of the door member during the practical use of the door device.
A furniture door device of this kind generally has a large number of movable parts as mentioned above. Hence, when a door member is slid, it is apt to shake. Especially, when the door member is slid forward or backward, a difference occurs between the quantities of movements of the left and right portions thereof or the quantities of movements of the upper and lower portions thereof. Consequently, the door member is inclined easily in the lateral or longitudinal direction, i.e., the movement of the door member tends to become unstable.